


Gingerbread & Mistletoe

by GlassParade



Category: SKAM (Netherlands), WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: M/M, van der stoffels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21864541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassParade/pseuds/GlassParade
Summary: In which Lucas is Jana’s Dutch cousin and old childhood friend of Jens visiting for the holidays, Jens is extremely bisexual, and Jana maybe possibly plays matchmaker, but she’ll never tell.
Relationships: Lucas van Der Heijden/Jens Stoffels
Comments: 10
Kudos: 198





	Gingerbread & Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not Dutch or Belgian, I’m an American with a head cold, this is probably riddled with mistakes, but there was an idea and it needed to be out, and god knows I really can’t resist a good crackship. Have some Christmas Van Der Stoffels fluff.

"Come over for dinner tonight. My mom's cooking." Jana's voice is cheerful, but Jens has known her for way too long to not know that this is not a request. Jana has gotten more assertive in the year since they broke up. She's nice about it, but Zoë has definitely rubbed off on her. This is a command performance.

Still. He's not going to just give in. "I dunno. I've got plans, you know, Robbe and the guys..."

"They're all coming too. I saved you for last." That's definitely Zoë's influence. It wouldn't have occurred to Jana to box him in like this, not in the old days. Jens rolls his eyes, but secretly, he thinks it's kind of cute. Yet it does make him wonder what she's planning. Because she must be planning something. Last minute is not really Jana's thing, most of the time.

"Okay. Do I need to bring anything?"

"We made gingerbread cookies. We're going to decorate them after we eat. Can you get some candy things? Like, red and green candies or something."

And that's how Jens finds himself on Jana's doorstep that night, holding a bag of seasonal M&Ms that he still can't believe he found. He's squinting at the bag as he rings the doorbell.

"Hey, Jana," he says as the door opens, or he means to say, it's just that it's not Jana standing in the doorway.

The person in the doorway is tall-ish and a little lanky, like Jana, and they have blue eyes, like Jana, and even the same vaguely red-tinged dark hair as Jana, but, no. This isn't Jana, this is a boy, a boy who looks very familiar to Jens, and not only because he looks so very much like Jana. It's only when he smiles that Jens remembers.

"Lucas?"

"Jens! Hey!" And Jens is wrapped up in a hug that, hm. He doesn't want to end.

That's interesting.

Lucas van Der Heijden. Jana's cousin from the Netherlands. Jens remembers him, though he doesn't remember him being this good-looking. But it's been a very long time since he's seen Lucas, a long time since Lucas has visited his aunt's Belgian family. They used to run around and play in the back garden, in city parks, at the skate park... for a long time it was always Jens and Jana and Britt and Robbe and Lucas.

"Things have changed..." He doesn't realize he's said it out loud until Lucas steps back, his smile widens and a light of something that looks like interest brightens his blue eyes.

"Yeah, they have. Come in, Jens. Good to see you."

***

Jana puts them next to each other at dinner.

"You two should get reacquainted. I've had Lucas to myself all day."

Is there something behind her smile? Or is she just happy to have everyone together for a festive dinner? All her friends around the table, passing dishes back and forth... Jens is very aware of Lucas' hands when they brush his, when Lucas passes him the butter, the salt, a paper napkin.

Jens has known for a while that he likes guys the way he likes girls. He just hasn't actually met a guy in person who sparked the same interest in him that Jana and Britt did. His stash of photos of that Louis guy from One Direction, carefully hidden several folders deep on his laptop, now, those definitely spark the interest, but obviously he's never going to run into that guy on the streets of Antwerp.

He was starting to be sure that he'd never meet any guy who did. Not here.

But he can't deny the little electric thrill that goes through him when Lucas jostles his arm, laughing at some story Moyo is telling. Or the good-kind-of-queasy feeling in his stomach when Lucas drops his fork and has to bend down to pick it up, his head brushing against Jens' leg as he goes.

"So that's new," Lucas observes, tapping the back of Jens' hand with his finger - _ZING_! goes every nerve ending in Jens' hand - and pointing down at the end of the table, where Robbe and Sander are sitting, heads close together and laughing in that enviable coziness that they have, where they've shut the whole world out for a moment to just be with each other. Robbe's thumb is stroking over the back of Sander's hand as they smile into each other's eyes, and Jens suddenly kind of wishes that Lucas had done more than just tap a finger on the back of his.

He shakes off the thought. "Uh, yeah. Robbe's had a pretty busy few months."

Is Jens imagining it, or, as they watch Robbe and Sander, does Lucas have that same vague look of wishing that Robbe used to have whenever he talked about Sander, in the days before they fixed everything between them? Maybe it's just hopeful thinking on his own part.

Lucas sighs. "He looks happy. It's nice."

"He is. They are. It is." Idiot. Jens opens his mouth to ask, _what would make you happy?_ But right then Jana gets up and starts clearing the table.

"Come on! The sooner we get this all cleared, the sooner we can get to the cookies!"

Does he welcome the interruption, or is he a little bit annoyed at Jana for it?

***

Some of the seating around the table shuffled after dinner was cleared and mountains of gingerbread people and houses and windmills were put out.

Zoë left Jana's side and is with Robbe and Sander, the three of them laughing over Robbe's completely terrible skill with an icing bag. Luca moved herself away from Amber to go sit next to Moyo and roast him for his lopsided candy placements. The newly empty space by Amber left a void for Aaron to fill, not that Amber looks entirely thrilled about it.

But Lucas stays next to Jens.

Another round of passing things back and forth, of electric hand touches, idle conversation, unreadable things behind Lucas' eyes and smile. Jens doesn't know what to make of it.

Lucas smells really good. Like gingerbread - he'd helped Jana with the baking - and his aftershave, whatever it is. The scents blend well together, spicy and warm, not overwhelming. It's nice to get a whiff every time Lucas leans a little close, easier to surreptitiously take a sniff of it than it is to look into those possibly flirty blue eyes.

Jens kind of feels a little drunk on it, if he's being honest. It's got to be that that's set his head spinning, because Jana's mom has only supplied sparkling cider and mugs of hot chocolate for them to drink. "I need some air," he says. "It's warm in here."

"I'll go with you." Not only that, Lucas helps him to his feet, and Jens' brain almost falls out onto the table at the touch of Lucas' hand on his elbow, at Lucas guiding him through the house to the front patio.

Before they leave the dining room, Jens looks back at Jana, and he can't read the little smile on her face.

On the patio, they're alone. It's freezing, they're only in jeans and hoodies, so they stand close to each other, preserving a little pocket of warmth. "You don't have to stay out here with me," Jens says, and he finds it a little easier to look into those bright blue eyes when they're not in a well-lit room surrounded by his friends.

"I want to." Lucas has a lopsided smile on that Jens remembers, one that is stirring up feelings that he very much does not remember. "I wanted to get you alone, actually."

If Jens had been drinking, he'd have choked. "You what?"

"Oh. Wasn't I..." Lucas clears his throat and even in the low light, his blush is clear. "I'm not good at this. Flirting. It's new to me. Didn't you... wasn't... it wasn't clear?"

Oh.

 _Oh_.

Jens shoves his hands into his pockets. "It's new for me too. I wasn't sure... I didn't really know you're..."

"Right. Right. No, I get it. Yeah. I'm... out. Now. Recently." Lucas somehow, impossibly, turns more red. "Oh, God. You're not... did I...? I'm sorry. Fuck, always me falling for the straight guy. Sorry. Fuck."

"No, no, it's. I." He doesn't even know where to look, and he's suddenly as bad with words as Robbe ever has been. Though to be fair, he hasn't ever said what he's about to say out loud to anyone. Not even Robbe. Not yet. It just hadn't been the time.

Jens takes a deep breath.

"I'm not straight. I'm just not out. It's a little new to me. And things have been kind of crazy, so I haven't really had anyone to talk to about it. Yet."

"So I'm the first?" A little of the red has gone out of Lucas' face, and a little bit of the hope has come back into his eyes.

Jens chuckles. "Yeah. Guess so."

Lucas looks up at the patio ceiling, and suddenly, he grins. When he turns that grin onto Jens, it makes Jens weak in the knees, and he casually pulls one hand out of his pocket to even more casually rest it on the porch railing so he can stay upright.

"So," Lucas says, brilliant smile and gorgeous eyes and all, "do you want to share another first with me?"

At first, Jens doesn't get it. Not until Lucas points upward, and then he sees it. Mistletoe, bunches and garlands of it, strung all along the ceiling.

He looks at Lucas and grins, and it's gratifying for Jens to see at last that his smile seems to have the same effect on Lucas that Lucas' has on him.

***

Girls are small and soft and sweet, to Jens.

Kissing Lucas isn't any of these things.

It's gingerbread and chocolate, a little bit of stubble, angles under Jens' hands instead of curves. It's a kiss that's more assertive and direct than the ones Jens has had before, nothing gentle or tentative or shy about it, and he had not at all known how much he was going to like that until he was wound up in it.

He's got his fingers tangled up in Lucas' blue hoodie, Lucas has his hand behind Jens' head, pulling him closer. They're breathing like they'd been drowning and kissing is all that can save them.

Somehow, Jens got backed up against the wall, and he's definitely fine with that, because it means he gets surrounded by Lucas, gets overwhelmed by Lucas, by lips and scents and hands and touches and spice and strength.

By the time they finally break apart, breathless and laughing, Jens doesn't know where he ends and Lucas begins.

Is this how it was for Robbe, when he met Sander? No wonder Robbe hadn't been able to stay away, to stop thinking about Sander. Jens doesn't know how to go back to not thinking about Lucas.

"You grew up," Lucas says, leaning against the wall and grinning.

"So did you," Jens replies. "This game is better than freeze tag."

"I agree." Lucas' eyes are dancing. "Jana and Britt always cheated, remember?"

Jens grins. "They don't have to be involved with this one."

Lucas glances into the window of the house and squints, waving at someone. "Honestly? I kind of get the feeling that Jana is actually involved here."

Jens peers in, moving his head around until he can see into the dining room, where Jana is busy presiding over the building of an enormous gingerbread cookie castle. She looks up and catches his eye, and with a little nod, she smiles.

Jens takes out his phone and fires off a quick text. _Is this your doing?_

Her reply is fast. Too fast. _I don't know what you mean_.

Her smile says otherwise.

He wonders how she knew. He’ll have to ask her. 

But… later. 

Jens looks at Lucas. "Looks like she's keeping them all pretty busy in there."

"Sure does." Reaching out, Lucas tugs him away from the window. "Wanna stay busy out here?"

Yes. Yes, Jens does.


End file.
